Subsequent to recent heightened security, government and private security measures have continued to increase worldwide. Consequently, there is a continued need for business and government security personnel to inspect and ascertain the identification cards of employees and citizens and to ascertain their authenticity and scope. Further, bars and nightclubs and liquor stores which serve alcohol are under a constant threat of fines and loss of their liquor license should they serve alcohol to an individual who is underage. Inspecting the identification of patrons of such establishments and validating its authenticity is therefore an important daily task.
However, with the advent of ever more advanced home and business computers and ever more accurate and high definition color printers, forging and manufacturing false identification cards, passports, employment identification cards, and drivers' licenses and the like has become easier. While forging a driver's license a decade ago was a cut and paste type of an operation which would generally be laminated to appear authentic, current computers and printers with appropriate graphic reproduction software place the ability to create genuine appearing, yet forged identification documents, in the hands of teenagers.
As a consequence, there is an ever more pressing need for business owners, bar and liquor store owners, banks, and government employees such as the TSA checking airline passengers, to be able to read and visually ascertain the authenticity and current validity of a presented piece of identification. Documents such as drivers' licenses in the past decade have included many types of security and authenticity factors which are imprinted directly onto the identification card. These can be inks that fluoresce, inks that are visible only under certain light spectrums, hidden indica in identification photos, printed bar codes, and magnetic strips which are encoded. Frequently a plurality of these types of security and authenticity measures are imprinted on both sides of a driver's license or ID and can serve to validate that the ID is current and can authenticate the ID as validly issued rather than forged.
However, presently, most small businesses such as a bar or restaurant do not have the personnel trained to spot forgeries through comparison of imprinted authenticity and validity markers. Further, because the equipment to read and discern the various different types of security features is both bulky and expensive, business and even government venues do not employ it. Instead, businesses and government employees rely on the eye of a bouncer or gatekeeper at a restaurant or bar, and government relies on personnel such as a counter clerk or TSA agent, both of whom with little training and less equipment must try and spot forged identifications without the aid of variable light wavelengths and magnetic and optical strip readers and comparison of duplicate information on each.
One major impediment in imaging and detecting the authenticity and current validity of drivers' licenses and identification cards using conventional scanning machinery is the fact that they are stiff by nature due to their need for longevity. Most two sided document readers and imagers depend on running the document being scanned through a serpentine path in the device on a track through curves and ejecting it at the end of the serpentine path. While traversing this path, the card is optically viewed in a number of positions to try and image spectrum viewable security features for comparison. Being short and stiff, such cards are not well adapted to follow the conventional serpentine path required for imaging two sides. Further, such card readers tend to be very bulky due to the elaborate pathways the card must follow and the different multiple imaging stations along the path. Adding to the problem with such conventional imaging devices is that CCD's and CMOS-style digital imaging chips are expensive. Consequently employing two to image both sides of a document doubles the cost. Additionally two independent image capturing components require a doubling of calibration, lighting, and double the amount of things that can go wrong.
Accordingly, there is an unmet need for an imaging device that will scan both sides of either a flexible or relatively stiff identification card such as a driver's license or credit card style ID, which has a reduced size and footprint in use at such venues as an airport, bar, or company or government building point of entry. Such a device should provide for imaging of both sides of the card or document concurrently by a single electronic imaging device to thereby reduce costs and initial and ongoing calibration requirements. Such a device, due to the nature of people standing in lines and crowds where the identification is generally checked, and credit cards employed, should serve to increase speed through a checkpoint rather than slowing it as is the result with conventional devices. Further, such a device should eliminate the serpentine path for the document being checked and should provide the shortest and fastest path in and out of the device as is possible while achieving concurrent images of both sides of the document under a plurality of illumination spectrums required to image authenticity markings. Further, such a device should be especially well adapted to image both sides of a driver's license or ID card concurrently in a highly registered imaging between the two sides and to produce images that are easily readable and comparable on a video display for the user.